Cutting Back Public Investment after 1980

Collateral Damage, Policy Legacies and Political Adjustment

Bibliographic Data

ID6297046
AuthorsHans Keman (0000-0002-8181-8407, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume30
Issue2
Pages163-182
Publication date2010-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-814X • E-ISSN: 1469-7815
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0143814x1000005x
OpenAlexW1507940903
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited29

Since the 1980s public investment expenditures have been cut back in many OECD democracies. One explanation is a priority for fiscal stringency in order to curb big government in the context of neo-liberal ideas, which is reinforced by EMU requirements in the 1990s. Another is the potential impact of left and right partisan politics on investment policies. The main finding here is that the overall decrease in public investment expenditure appears to be caused by collateral damage due to the downsizing of total government outlays. This is particularly the case where there is a policy legacy of the Left with high levels of total public spending on the welfare state prior to the 1980s. Where the Right in government has been dominant after 1980, this downward development in public investment is particularly noticeable

Collateral · Collateral damage · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economic policy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Investment (military · Market economy · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public investment · Public policy · Public welfare · State (computer science · Welfare · Welfare state · Finance · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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